Writers Need Writers

Thursday 15th February 2024, editing competition entries so not too many new words, 0 new rejections, 4 new agent queries, 4 competitions entered, still reading The Islands of Abandonment, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, and Wild Houses, 0 new book purchases (although I will be in the airport at the weekend…), 2 coffees, 1 lemon and ginger tea and two fig rolls

During a recent training course about attachment theory, a simple point was made – people need people. As a human race we need adults to raise us and I am sure you have all heard the African proverb ‘it takes a village to raise a child‘. It is no different for writers. Writers need their people (and a lot of books) but when you are still uncomfortable ‘coming out’ as a writer, it can be hard.

The need for adults (and villages) relates to our need to be nurtured, and as a writer you need nurturing to improve. Listening to George Saunders book A Swim in the Pond in the Rain has been reminding me of my creative writing workshops on my MA. Every MA graduate I know misses the workshop environment (and the added bonus of being accountable each week which helps keep your writing goals on track). Over the last ten years, I have been involved in several writing communities and they serve a range of purposes: support, advice, feedback and socialising being a few of the reasons I keep attending. WhatsApp has made communicating in groups like this so simple, and instant, that when you stumble across a sensitivity issue, the need for some encouragement or a place to rant, there is always someone at the end of the chat.

Last weekend I submitted my ‘old lady’ novel to agents for the first time. This round of queries feels like going back to the beginning when at the start of 2022, I began to query You Can See the End of the World From Here. I once heard a writer say that your favourite or best novel must always be the novel you have just written – that has to be the one that you believe to be your best piece of work. This rings true to me and I believe my ‘old lady’ novel to be the most accomplished writing I have completed so far. And it has taken far fewer drafts. However this does not lesson the fear of rejection. If this novel is not ‘the one’ either, where do I go next?

This is when the support of fellow writers comes in. At AWG the range of writers makes this place a supportive arena that I am lucky to be part of. Without them, and my fellow Writing Bedfordshire group, the process of navigating the world of writing would be harder. Their successes spur you on and their failures remind you that the journey to publication remains rocky for all (and the journey once published isn’t easier, but different). Getting a book published does not automatically equal financial or literary success. Knowing your fellow writers will be there with a nurturing ‘hug’ makes all the difference.

As I wait for responses to my first round of agent queries, I am continuing to enter competitions. These do not often offer feedback but this week I received a pleasant surprise when a competition organiser rejected my ‘uncanny’ story.

Although your story did not end up among our top four pieces in this running of The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition, I wanted you to know that I did enjoy reading it. Cheers.

The Ghost Story

Another of my new year promises was to share more fiction on my blog, so I have decided to share with you all my ‘failed’ competition entries. This way, despite not winning, my stories will make it in front of ‘my village’ of readers because everyone who reads this blog nurtures this yellow brick road writer. Here you can find my ‘uncanny’ story, The Winter Road (six minute read).

Kate